Deora, Bala file nomination, ‘spiderman’ too in fray

A day after Shiv Sena and MNS workers clashed as their respective party candidates Arvind Sawant and Aditya Shirodkar reached the Old Custom House to file their nominations for the Lok Sabha polls, a team of over 20 police personnel was deployed outside the Custom House Friday when sitting Congress MP Milind Deora and Bala Nandgaonkar from MNS visited the office at the same time to file their nominations for South Mumbai constituency.

Both sides maintained a safe distance, with Congress workers waiting at one exit and those from MNS at the other. A Congress supporter from Khetwadi said, “I had also come in 2009 to show my support to Deora. We are being careful and are not talking much to MNS supporters since an incident took place yesterday.”

Soon after Deora and Nandgaonkar filed their nominations, an Independent candidate, Gaurav Sharma (31), a professional trainer of climbing, arrived with his close family members and friends in a spiderman costume to file nomination from South Mumbai constituency.

His brother, Pankaj Sharma, said, “The aim of my brother is to create awareness amongst people to come out and vote.”

NCP’s Sanjeev Naik leads a huge rally to file nomination

NCP candidate Sanjeev Naik and MNS candidate Abhijit Panse on Friday filed their nominations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Thane constituency. While Panse arrived and left without much fanfare, Naik, accompanied by senior NCP leaders Supriya Sule and Jitendra Avhad, led a huge rally that caused traffic problems on some key roads of Thane.

Naik’s rally, consisting of hundreds of supporters on foot as well as in autorickshaws adorned with NCP flags, started from the Nitin Company junction in Thane (west) around 12 noon and proceeded through the Hariniwas circle and Jambhali Naka towards the Thane collector’s office, which is located on the same road that leads to the Thane railway station. As a result, traffic going towards and coming from the station was affected. The presence of Sule and Avhad only attracted more supporters and the rally swelled in size on the way.

While Naik, Sule and Avhad went up to the collector’s office, the crowd milled about outside the compound amidst strict police bandobast.